Blood Bounds
by IanPhilippe
Summary: The Pharaoh's son, Atem, is endangered by assasins. Seth is to find a double for him - but what happens when the double, Yuugi, is more than strong-willed? SLASH: AtemxYuugi, SethxJou, BakuraxOC


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**Blood Bounds**

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own YGO, the series, the game or the cards. I just fuck with the characters for fun.

**Warnings: minor OOCness, AU, slash, some language**

**Pairings: Atem x Yuugi, Seth x Jou, Bakura x OMC**

**A/N:** Merry Christmas, Misa-koi ^^

~*~*~*~*~*~

The Pharaoh paced the room restlessly, his brow furrowed with worry. Nothing could bring him peace of mind now and Seth could say that he was on the verge of a panic attack.

"He's my only son," the Pharaoh muttered for the eleventh time and Seth inclined his head lightly in respect, repeating his question as well.

"What do you want me to do, my Lord?"

"I don't know," the Pharaoh hissed, throwing his hands into the air helplessly. "I'm too old, too sick to protect him. Or Egypt. I don't have much time left, and with this…"

"I will protect him," Seth said darkly. He couldn't care less about the Pharaoh's only son, spoiled rich brat who didn't care about much except games and bets, but Atem WAS the only suitable successor to the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The next in line except him…

"If anything happens to my son, then it's Khemet, and the little bastard is half-Persian. He'll sell the whole Egypt out to those bloodthirsty hyenas," the Pharaoh gritted his teeth and looked at Seth:

"Do something! Protect my son!"

"I already did today," Seth stated matter-of-factly, knowing full well that being rude like that could cost him his head – but also knowing it wouldn't. Not today. Right now he could tell the Pharaoh that he was a mindless old goat and get away with it. He had just saved the ass of his beloved Atem, twice, after all. First time, when that Persian assassin attacked, and Seth deflected his blow with his magic. Second time, when a maid brought wine to the shaken brat, Seth asked her to taste it first. In fact, he force-fed it to her, ignoring Atem's loud protests to drink wine that has touched a commoner's lips, and when he heard that, he was tempted to let him poison himself. But after all, Seth's predictions came true, and just as he rolled his eyes at Atem's loud screech of horror, he was summoned by the Pharaoh.

So he stepped over the maid's dead body, feeling certain satisfaction as he left it just where it was, lazily sending a servant to get rid of the corpse, and went out of Atem's rooms, followed by the high tone of the boy's yelling.

And now, the Pharaoh just frowned at him.

"They will come back. They will keep coming back until they manage to kill me and my son and win Egypt over to their side. I can't let that happen."

Seth nodded at that. That was why he had become a magician, to help Egypt and the Pharaoh, who was a sensible man under all that royal crap.

"I could summon a demon and make him look like His Highness Atem," the magician offered.

The Pharaoh threw him a disgusted glare and Seth fought an urge to roll his eyes again. Of course. Demons were evil, how could he have forgotten. Didn't matter they were useful and if a competent high priest held their reins – and Seth considered himself VERY competent – they couldn't actually harm anyone. No. Pharaohs and old prejudices were a terrible mixture.

"No. But you could find a double. A peasant that resembles my son."

The Mighty Pharaoh's face lit up as he spoke, and Seth swallowed a remark that if the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt didn't take a fuck trip to the docks about fifteen years ago, there would probably be NO candidate for the post. After all, young Atem didn't look like a commoner, not by far. That ridiculous hair of his, those eyes, the royal lines of his face… to find someone who looked like him would be pretty much impossible.

But resisting the will of a distressed Pharaoh ranked even higher on the scale of 'Impossible-Things-To-Do', so Seth just bowed low and left when he saw Pharaoh's dismissing gesture.

Outside the Pharaoh's chambers, Seth growled, kicked the nearest pillar, hissed at a servant who stared at the poor, abused mage, and set out to try and fulfill his impossible task.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The streets were messy, hot and crowded as usual and Seth's mood got worse and worse with every step he took and with every nudge he got under his ribs when he tried to weave his way through the mass of bodies in the marketplace.

And it didn't help his mood to see the same faces everywhere. Seth snorted: how he was supposed to find a double for a weird-haired, purple-eyed Pharaoh's son in a crowd of dark-haired, dark-eyed peasants… that was a mystery to him.

Seth sighed and stepped into the first back alley he spotted. From the pouch on his waist he took out a small golden medallion that was often used while evoking demons. Whether the Pharaoh liked it or not, without some magical aid, Seth was very likely to fail in his mission. After all he couldn't see EVERY damned person in all of Thebes – it was a little TOO great a city for that. And… calling out demons meant NOT having to breathe that sour, sweat-and-rotting-food smelling air anymore.

Seth made a face at that smell again – oh how he HATED commoners – and uttered first few syllables of a summoning spell, when he heard steps behind his back. He turned, but he saw nothing and then, there was blinding pain in his head and darkness around him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_Typical,_ was Seth's first thought when he awoke, mouth dry, head pounding, his pouch and medallion missing and wrists tied together. Just fuckin' typical… that was exactly why he just couldn't stand going outside of the palace if he absolutely didn't have to.

And now, he was in some fucking hole only gods knew where, and Seth thought bitterly that maybe even gods didn't. He was a priest of a damned, disliked god after all… and even if Set the God knew about Seth the Priest's whereabouts, he'd be probably laughing his ass off instead of helping his follower.

_So much for being a loyal servant,_ Seth gritted his teeth and tried to move his wrists to see whether he could escape.

Of course he couldn't – he was used to people bowing to him as he walked past them ignorantly, definitely not to running away from stinking, dark rooms. And the headache was such a bitch…

"Hey!" a soft hiss came and Seth looked around, wondering if he was going mad already or if it was just a side effect from that hit he took to his head.

It was neither, or his hallucinations were unusually material and hanging off the ceiling, apparently using some hole in the roof Seth couldn't see, except for the outline of his visitor's torso against the slightly less dark sky. That meant it was night already, and Seth sighed, irritated a little – good to know people worried when the court magician was missing for half a day…

"Hey, do you hear me?" the guy hissed again, and Seth rolled his eyes, not bothering to answer. The guy waited for a moment, then decided the lack of answer wasn't a problem, and continued his semi-inconspicuous hissing:

"Do you have something valuable?"

It was too stupid a question for Seth to keep quiet any longer.

"I do not know where you come from, but here in Thebes rogues actually ROB people," he snapped sarcastically, and he could almost hear the guy's mind processing that – when he spoke next, he sounded like… he was pouting.

"I know. Too bad then, I could've got you outta here…"

The silhouette started to withdraw from that hole in the roof when Seth stopped him:

"Wait. Can you really get me out of here?"

"Yup," a slight interest in the guy's voice, and Seth sighed mentally. He didn't know where he was, but from what he knew about the ways of rogues in these parts of the city, they were probably going to argue for several more hours about whether to ask for a ransom or kill him out of fear they'd be discovered.

And Seth didn't feel like turning into a few rotting meat pieces in the Nile, not yet, at least.

"Then do it. Get me out," he said with a slight nod. Not like he had better options… but the guy just laughed:

"Are you serious? I know you rich people… you'll just make me do all the work and then you'll run away without paying. And after all, you said you have nothing valuable… I don't care what happens to you."

Seth growled quietly at that. Little bastard… wouldn't do a thing to save his own mother from an alligator if there was no gain from it… but what he would expect from commoners. Filthy little creatures… with another growl, Seth muttered a little unmasking spell that made a ring appear on his little finger. He was glad now that he had thought about concealing it magically – it was a symbol of his status, a personal gift from the Pharaoh to Seth's deceased father and passed on to him, and he'd be REALLY mad to lose it to a few stupid rogues…

But right now he didn't have a choice and… after all… Seth just shrugged:

"I have something, but you have to get me out of here."

"No. Payment first, then you have my word I'll get you out."

Seth grinned a little and raised his tied hands above his head to throw as well as he could.

"Then catch."

He could make out the guy's hand flashing up to catch the little golden and amethyst ring, and then a hissed curse.

"What the… get it off!"

Seth smirked. Ohhh he was good… he knew why he had a curse on several of his personal belongings which activated the moment someone else than him touched them…

"Not until you get me out of here. I am not stupid enough to believe the word of filth like you," he managed to sound condescending out of habit, even though he wondered briefly if it was a good idea. But then again… it was the guy who had a curse sticking his fingers together now…

Just as planned, after a moment of pouting silence, there came a pouting reply… and a rope.

"Climb up… and get this… whatever it is… off me!"

Seth was smirking all the way up, which seemed a little longer than he had thought it'd be – he wasn't that used to climbing out through a hole in the roof, and the wrists tied together didn't help much either. But finally he was up in the night air, recognizing this part of the city as the docks – just as he had suspected from the ever-present rotting-fish smell.

"Now get it off me," the guy demanded, and in a faint light of the Moon Seth could tell his hair was pale – quite unusual, Seth thought, but before he could get further in his observation, a voice came from behind his back.

"Release him!"

Seth turned around, cursing in his mind that he was discovered by the guys/rogues/whoever had captured him, or that this whole 'escape' thing was just a ploy to kill him for real, though he didn't quite understand why the rogues would make this much effort to make it seem like it was his fault or what…

Then, the other guy came closer, and Seth saw that it was just a boy, considerably smaller than Seth himself. The magician just smirked.

"Or you'll do what? Glare at me?"

Okay, maybe he DID have his hands tied, and he wasn't very used to hand-to-hand combat, but… he was still a big guy, and he could take on a kid… right?

The snort that came back from the darkness made Seth wonder if it really wouldn't be better to NOT be sarcastic for once towards people he couldn't see clearly.

"Release him," the voice repeated with the authority of someone knowing that this fight was on HIS territory and under HIS conditions. "He can live with fingers stuck together – or at least live considerably longer than you will if I scream now and those idiots that kidnapped you wake up…"

Seth didn't have to think long about that to see his point.

"Untie me and I'll release him."

A snort from the shadows, and the dark silhouette of the boy stepped closer, so the moonlight illuminated him as well.

The first urge Seth got was to bow and do as he was told. It was Prince Atem, or at least Prince Atem who hadn't taken a bath in a few days and had to live on the streets for several years. But otherwise, even in this faint light, Seth could tell that the boy's facial features were almost Atem's perfect replica, even though the boy was smaller in build.

"If you think you're in a position to demand something-" the boy stopped in his power-speech and frowned at Seth. "Why are you staring at me like that?!"

"You're coming with me."

The boy raised an eyebrow and threw an uncertain glance at the pale-haired guy, then back at Seth.

"Did they hit your head too hard?!"

Seth shook his head 'no', reminded of the ache at the back of his skull again.

"You're coming with me. The Pharaoh needs your service."

The boy gaped. So did the fair-haired guy, as far as Seth could see from the glance he threw over his shoulder.

"Who the fuck are you?" his 'savior' asked very diplomatically, and Seth rolled his eyes. Of course… be a sissy, fat-ass Amon's priest and people lick your feet everywhere you go… but a competent Set's priest could as well never exist for all the fame he gets…

"I am the highest court priest of His Highness the Pharaoh, and now if you'd be so kind and untie my hands…" he raised his tied wrists to highlight his point. The Atem-alike actually did as Seth asked, and when the magician had his hands finally free, he snatched the ring off the fair-haired guy's hand with a smile of twisted pleasure.

"Now we're even," he grinned when the guy glared at him, and turned back to the boy. "And you are going with me to the palace. The Pharaoh requires your service."

The bigger guy seemed to have something against that idea, but as he opened his mouth, the boy just looked at him and the man shut up immediately. Seth grinned – good, natural authority could come in handy with someone who was supposed to be a Prince… at least for show.

"Who am I to deny the Pharaoh? Lead the way," the boy nodded with a small smile, and the added as an afterthought:

"My name is Yuugi and this guy is Jou. Would you mind if he came with me?"

Seth shrugged and shook his head – his main concern was to get that Yuugi guy to the palace and get this whole craziness over with. All he had in mind at that moment was serious need to go back to his rooms, rub that disgusting smell of the docks off his skin and have a good night's sleep in his beloved bed… he wouldn't care if Atem's double wanted to bring his whole family with him. Heck, peasants were easy to deal with, feed them, give them a mat to sleep on and a place to empty themselves, and that was all… one guy more or less, wouldn't matter.

"Take him if you want… just… come now," Seth muttered and picked the quickest way back to the palace. He wouldn't stay in these damned parts of the city for a moment longer than absolutely necessary.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you fuckin' MAD?" Jou hissed and Yuugi elbowed him in his side. Really… the blonde had to learn finally that his hisses were just as loud as normal speech.

"Shh. And no, I KNOW what I'm doing, don't worry."

"Yeah well. Last time you said that, we ended up on a fuckin' ship to Memphis, remember?!"

Yuugi rolled his eyes, though he did feel a little guilty about that one.

"But it was a nice trip, wasn't it?"

"No. I swear if you ever pull that 'I'm a poor lame kid and here, this older brother of mine will work to pay off the fee for my food' trick again… I'm going to MAKE a poor lame kid out of you," Jou growled quietly and Yuugi giggled – oh how many times he had heard that threat already… and Jou never actually did anything to him. He was so easy to abuse… though Yuugi loved him like a real brother and would never do something that would seriously hurt Jou. Making him work a little… okay a lot sometimes when Yuugi was in his lazy mood… that didn't count as 'serious harm' in Yuugi's world.

"Stop whining, 'brother'," Yuugi winked at his thief-partner, and nodded towards the slightly hunched back of that so-called magician walking in front of them. "And actually think about it for a moment – oh… sorry to ask that from you. I know you and thinking don't go together very well."

Jou glared, and Yuugi chuckled, nudging Jou's side again playfully.

"Come on; don't look at me like that. Just think, really – where's the biggest supply of gold and gems in the world?"

Jou blinked and raised a skeptical eyebrow at Yuugi.

"You're not considering grave-robbing, are you? Because I told you about gazillion times, I don't do things that will piss of ghosts and-"

"Shut up," Yuugi rolled his eyes. Really… sometimes Jou could be so… dense… "I was thinking palace, you oaf, Pharaoh's palace. The one to which we just got a free ticket. If THIS isn't a sign from Gods that the Pharaoh has a little excess of riches and needs to get rid of them… then I don't know what is."

Jou's face slowly lit up with understanding, and Yuugi patted his shoulder in a mock praise. For a moment he wondered what it could be that the PHARAOH, the mightiest man in the world, could want from two unimportant rogues like them, or more precisely from a boy like Yuugi… but he let that thought go. His mind was too busy thinking about the gold and rubies and sapphires and other sparkly, expensive things he would get his hands on in just a moment…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Atem paced his room nervously. His stomach grumbled, protesting against Atem's way of ignoring the platters with fruit and meat placed at a small table for quite some time.

He couldn't bring himself to swallow even a little bit of food – the image of the dead servant girl was still vivid in his mind. In every berry, every apple, every bit of meat he saw his death and thus ignored all his food since yesterday's evening. Seth had disappeared somewhere and his father was way too busy to care about his son's peace of mind. And so, Atem spent the whole night staring into the ceiling, his mind painting horrid images of various ways he could die in the hands of Persian assassins. The morning that was supposed to bring reason with the light of the dawn brought nothing but further worries as the servants came in with the Prince's breakfast, blinking in fear as Atem yelled at them to get out of his room. He couldn't help it – he had been brought up with the distant knowledge that sometime in the future a day would come when some people would dislike him to the extent of trying to harm him, or even kill him – but that thought had been always far, far away from reality in Atem's mind. Until yesterday. And it wasn't only ONE attempt, but TWO, in just a few hours. Atem was very aware of the fact that if it weren't for Seth, he'd be dead now, and that was scaring him out of his wits.

When a knock came on his door, Atem's first thought was that the yesterday's assassin was coming to finish his job. But then it occurred to him that a murderer would hardly knock politely before entering his rooms – though the knock wasn't as polite as it was impatient. Which Atem knew very well.

"Enter."

Just as he expected, Seth came in, but not alone. At first Atem thought that the mage had captured the assassin as he saw a tall blonde peasant behind Seth. But then, another stranger came in, and Atem couldn't help but open his mouth in disbelief.

The boy looked like Atem would, if he had been born to a poor family in the docks. The features of his face were very similar to the ones Atem was used to see in polished bronze mirrors of the palace and even though the boy was a little smaller and thinner, it didn't seem like anything healthy food and a few years of growth wouldn't solve.

"You haven't eaten, Prince," Seth grumbled and picked up a platter of fruit at the table near the entrance, bringing it to Atem. That managed to get the Prince's attention at least for a while away from his strange twin.

"I wasn't hungry."

His stomach rumbled as if to sneer at that statement in derision. Seth frowned at him and Atem looked back fiercely. Heck, HE was the Prince here… he should be the one to order people around. Definitely NOT this mage that sometimes acted more fatherly towards Atem than his own father, even though Seth was just a few years older.

"Of course you weren't. Now eat. It's not poisoned; I had all the servants in the palace know that their families would be held personally responsible if anything was to happen to you. Trust me, no one in the kitchen likes Persian ideals of society so much they'd risk seeing their kids tortured and sentenced to death."

Atem gulped and wanted to say something about intimidating servants being a bad thing, but then he realized that Seth wasn't actually bluffing. That made it even worse… but on the other hand, knowing how VERY intimidating Seth could be, the servants would be probably scared to offer Atem an unripe apple now, not to say anything about poison.

With a slightly disapproving glare Seth's way, Atem picked up a slice of apple and bit into it. Then his gaze wandered back to the boy that resembled him so much, and Atem wondered whether it was another of Seth's demons taking this shape to protect him. But the likeness wasn't perfect, there were a few slight differences, and Atem raised an eyebrow at Seth.

"Who are they?"

"We're-" the blonde guy started, but Seth waved a hand at him and sent a glare his way. The blonde shut up, but glared back.

"What did I tell you? First rule, don't speak to the Pharaoh or the Prince without being ASKED to," Seth growled, and Atem couldn't help but grin at the memory of how Seth usually disregarded this rule completely, especially when it came to the 'Prince'. But he kept his mouth shut, and looked back at Seth in hope of some explanation. Food might be alright, but Atem still wasn't very comfortable around strangers – not after yesterday.

"They're rogues from docks," Seth started, and Atem raised an eyebrow at that. "The one who looks like you, Yuugi, will be your double until negotiations with Greece are finished."

"And the other one?" Atem looked at the blonde who scowled at him. Definitely not a type to acknowledge authorities, as far as Atem could tell.

Seth rolled his eyes.

"He just trailed along. Apparently he's some kind of the boy's servant or something."

The blonde opened his mouth, but closed them under Seth's glare again.

"He's called Jou."

"And I wanted to come along because Yuugi might be in danger here," the blonde grumbled under his breath and at another Seth's glare stuck out his tongue at the mage. Atem chuckled.

"There will be no danger for your friend," the Prince started with a smile, honorably benevolent towards peasants as he was taught to be, but Seth cut him short with a wave of hand. Apparently Jou wasn't the only one to have a serious problem with acknowledging authorities. Well… Atem chuckled again – it wasn't the authorities in general Seth had a problem with. He just seemed to possess an innate inability to acknowledge ATEM's authority.

"Your friend will be in plenty of danger if he does what we ask," Seth said, without any sense of diplomacy. "What we want you to do," he turned to Yuugi, "is to pose as a double for the Prince. He had been attacked twice yesterday and almost killed."

There was a moment of silence as Yuugi seemed to think about it, while Jou wildly shook his head 'no' at his smaller friend. Atem himself didn't like that plan much:

"Seth, I can take care of myself."

"Sure," the mage snorted with a raised eyebrow at Atem, "that's why you're afraid to even EAT now."

Atem tried to glare as royally as he could.

"I don't want someone to get killed because of ME."

"He's a PEASANT, you're the Crown Prince of Egypt. You die, Egypt as we know it dies with you. Egypt your father built with his whole mind and strength will be gone."

Atem sighed. He HATED it when Seth's speeches actually made sense. Horrible, screwed-up sense, but it was there, yelling at Atem that he should be reasonable. But… something was definitely wrong with getting a person who looked like you killed…

"I don't want him to DIE because of ME!" Atem growled, but his resolve had grown weaker. Seth was right… and Atem hated it, because it meant his own life was worth more than any other life in Egypt, maybe with the exception of his father, the Pharaoh. That somehow didn't seem right – not after Atem had faced death the day before. Maybe two or three days ago he'd agree, but… now when he had been so close to visiting the underworld, death didn't seem right for ANY person.

"Don't I have anything to say in the matter?" a quiet voice ended Atem's and Seth's argument, and both turned to Yuugi with a question in their eyes, Seth already opening his mouth to bark 'no' as an answer to that.

"Why do they want to kill you? Your Highness?" the honorific was added as an afterthought, and Atem couldn't help but smile a little at that.

"Egypt is in the middle of alliance negotiations with Greece. Persians are trying to kill my father and me to free the way to the throne for a half-Persian candidate."

"Wouldn't it be easier to kill that candidate first?"

Seth raised an eyebrow at Jou – that was a weirdly intelligent comment from someone who according to Seth's observations only knew about robbery and theft.

"Actually we considered that, but the Pharaoh decided to not take such drastic measures as it wouldn't solve anything in the long run. The Pharaoh and his son are the targets for their alliance with Greece; Khemet, the half-Persian throne candidate, is only a little added benefit."

Jou looked a little puzzled from that explanation and Seth smirked satisfied at that expression on the blonde's face.

Yuugi looked at the Prince, then at Seth:

"And how do you know WE aren't Persians trying to find our way to the palace to assassinate the Prince?"

Seth chuckled, and Atem sighed. He knew THAT chuckle. It was seemingly innocent, but always preceded something VERY nasty the mage would say…

"That depends on your answer. If you agree to help the Prince, it means you're not a spy and therefore can be kept close… and alive."

Yuugi and Jou gaped, and Atem considered running a hand over his face. There he was, intimidating people again…

"So…" Jou was the first to recover, though he spoke very slowly, "that means… if we say no, you'll… kill us?"

Seth kept his 'nice' smile plastered on his face.

"You said it. On the other hand, if you do agree, there's quite a reward awaiting you."

Yuugi's eyes narrowed calculatingly:

"What reward?"

"The knowledge that you helped the future Pharaoh of Egypt, for one. And to satisfy your materialistic minds… your weight in gold."

Seth rolled his eyes when he saw Yuugi's glance towards his blonde friend, and added:

"For both of you."

"Deal," Yuugi smiled widely, and Jou gaped, first at his friend, then at Seth.

"No! How can we know we can trust you?! What if we do our part and then you just kill us to get rid of us?!"

"We will not do such a thing. Remember you are in royal palace and we DO consider our word worth something," Seth growled dangerously low, and Atem just sighed again. The blonde idiot was ASKING for it. Soon Seth would explode and do something rash… and Atem was just glad that he wasn't on the receiving end this time.

"Yeah right… so you just send people towards almost certain deaths."

"No, we don't. I am only trying to protect the Prince. I already did, and this is supposed to be just… a way of assuring nothing happens."

"So you DO agree that Yuugi will be in considerable danger?!"

"NO, HE WON'T! I will protect him, rest assured!"

"If you could, you wouldn't need a double," Jou snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, and Seth shut up. The blonde considered it a good sign, but Atem knew better and his eyes widened when he saw a small knife appear in Seth's hand. He just HOPED the mage wasn't pissed-off enough to just stab the blonde to shut him up.

But the mage stomped towards Yuugi and grabbed his hand. Before anyone could blink an eye, the knife slashed through Yuugi's fingertip and the boy hissed at the slight pain. Jou's eyes widened and he jumped to his friend, but the mage raised a hand and Jou was held back. With his other hand, Seth gripped Yuugi's bleeding finger firmly and ran it over his own chest, leaving smudged bloody hieroglyphs all over his skin. He was finished in a short moment and dropped his hand restraining Jou's movements as well as Yuugi's still slightly bleeding finger. The hieroglyphs over his chest shone crimson for a slightest of moments, and then became just smudged blood again.

"There. Your friend has all the divine – and demonic – protection I can offer as Set's highest priest," Seth growled quietly, looking pointedly at Jou, who stared with mouth wide open.

Atem just blinked – he never saw that ritual performed – he knew that Seth had performed it once, with Atem's blood, and that was why he was able to protect the Prince yesterday so well, but he never saw it with his own eyes. After all the ritual held a certain amount of darkness to it, something not many people were willing to yield to.

Then Jou regained his speech as he blinked furiously, his eyes never leaving Seth's chest covered in his friend's blood.

"Dude… that's disgusting."

Seth rolled his eyes and stomped towards the entrance. Before he left, he turned around and growled at Atem:

"Teach the boy the way you move, talk, think and live. He'll need it to pull this off."

With that, the mage disappeared and only horrified shrieks from the hallway spoke volumes about the maids he encountered on his way.

Atem rolled his eyes at that and kept his chuckle to himself. Calling Seth disgusting – well, that was certainly something new for the high priest. Not that many people liked him, no, but no one dared to say something like that directly to his face. The blonde guy – Jou, was it? – certainly had guts… or no brain.

"Well then… you will keep me company during the day to observe," the Prince turned to his new double, his fears momentarily forgotten as he remembered his duties as his father's advisor. After all he couldn't neglect his responsibilities 'just' because he had nearly been killed.

"Can you write, Yuugi?"

The boy looked as if Atem had asked him if he'd like to fight some crocodiles with bare hands.

"I take that as 'no'," the Prince raised an eyebrow sarcastically – of course, these were peasants, mere rogues… he shouldn't expect any education from them… no 'personal scribe' then…

"Then you'll be my personal page from now on."

"What?!"

"You can still be a sandal-bearer if you'd like," Atem sneered over his shoulder and sat down to make himself look a little more presentable for the meetings he had waiting for him.

"And you…" he inclined his head towards the blonde guy, his mind grinning evilly, "go find that crazy mage… he'll need some assistance as well. That's an order," he added when he could practically hear the guy opening his mouth in protest.

The grand exit of the blonde seemed very similar to that of Seth, and Atem chuckled as he picked up his obsidian stick for applying eye-lines. This could be fun in the end…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Seth looked up from the scrolls cluttering up most of the large table in front of him, expecting a servant with a message. To his surprise – and displeasure – it was the damned blonde rogue. Just when he started thinking he got rid of those two…

"What do you want?" he barked out, trying to scare the guy away. The last thing he needed was to babysit a peasant right now, when there were these damned Greek phrases and metaphors to sort out… why the bloody Athenians couldn't communicate in straight words and simple sentences was beyond Seth.

"Prince Atem ordered me to come here. To assist you," the blonde seemed clueless about why he was here too, and Seth rolled his eyes. Great… the Prince sure knew how to get on Seth's nerves…

"Sit down and shut up, I have work to do," he mumbled and glared at the Greek scrolls, trying to make sense of that load of crap. He was painfully aware that Atem was still the Crown Prince and Pharaoh's first advisor, which meant that Seth couldn't disobey his direct order without consequences… but he could at least lessen the damages by getting the blonde peasant out of the way.

"What are you working on?"

Seth looked up again, killing intent clear in his eyes.

"I said 'shut up'. The only exception applies if you're fluent in Greek, which I doubt, so let me work and try to keep quiet."

With every intention of burying himself in that Greek bullshit, he looked down to the parchment. He was able to translate about ten words before that annoying voice sounded again.

"I am."

Seth glared, hoping to damn the blonde out of his room, but it didn't work. The idiotic peasant was blushing a little, which showed ridiculously on his pale skin, and Seth grit his teeth.

"You are _what_?"

The blonde shuffled on his feet and averted his eyes to the ground, looking a little nervous, then glanced up at the mage (who was gritting his teeth and preparing to send the blonde to prison just to keep him out of his way).

"I'm… seriously, look at me. Do I look Egyptian to you?" the peasant's hand picked up a strand of his blonde hair to emphasize his point, and Seth silently admitted that the guy, Jou, didn't look ANYWHERE near Egyptian. Some royals had skin almost as fair as him, but Seth never really saw a real Egyptian with blonde hair and icy-blue eyes.

"Do you have a point or you're just wasting my time?" Seth raised an eyebrow – as much as this discovery was interesting, it wasn't interesting enough to keep him from the work that needed to be done and those blasted scrolls.

"Yeah. I can help you if you need someone who speaks Greek. I lived in Corinth until I was eleven."

Jou smiled sheepishly, and Seth sighed. He didn't want the peasant anywhere near his documents, much less his magical components, but if there was a chance someone understood all that bullshit, he'd take it.

"Here," he lifted one scroll towards the blonde and offered a pen to him, "get to work and keep quiet."

Maybe he'd get out of this office before tomorrow after all… but his hope was short-lived as the guy just shuffled on his feet again.

"What!" Seth snapped – he was used to dealing with people who came to his office, stated their business in about thirty seconds, waited for his answer and left. Trying to pull every word of explanation out of someone definitely wasn't Seth's idea of fun.

"I didn't say I could _read_. Or write hieroglyphs, for that matter."

Another silly smile was flashed Seth's way, and the mage had an urge to stab himself to death with the pen he was holding – but then again… even spoken translation would be quicker than his fishing through every other possible translated document.

"Sit down. I'll read out aloud, you'll translate."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Where's Jou?" Yuugi asked quietly and handed the Prince a golden collar so heavy with the gems that Yuugi's mouth watered at the thought of all the great food and wine he could get with that… for months.

"You know you're technically supposed to keep quiet and just do my bidding, right?"

"Technically…" Yuugi snickered quietly – the knowledge that the Pharaoh and the Prince needed him, not just ANY peasant, was giving him a lot of courage. He could be killed anytime, that was true, but he couldn't imagine how they'd find an expendable guy who looked like Atem again.

The Prince was quiet for a moment essential to fasten the collar behind his neck, then turned to his new servant.

"Don't worry about your friend. He is with Seth, the court magician who brought you here."

"The psycho freak?" Yuugi raised an eyebrow and wondered what would be a situation worth worrying for the Prince, if this wasn't.

To his surprise, he didn't earn a kick or beating with his remark, just a quick, badly concealed chuckle and no direct reply.

"I think he might be able to help with some of the work Seth is dealing with currently," the Prince spoke quizzically as he looked in his polished bronze mirror to check his appearance. Seeing his oiled, golden skin wrapped in the thin linen kilt, Yuugi couldn't help but wonder if he himself would look so royal in that attire.

"Work? Jou? I doubt that," Yuugi snorted – he knew Jou since they were about fourteen, which meant three years of good proof that Jou didn't work if his skin didn't depend on it, and even then he slacked off wherever he could. They met on the streets, after all, two rogues who just decided that they'd manage to steal more working together – that wasn't the way two honest hard-working people would meet.

The Prince just smiled in a way that made Yuugi wonder what the Prince knew that Yuugi didn't.

"We'll see… now follow me, and keep quiet. Don't speak to me until I address you directly."

Just before they were out of the door, Atem turned around and went to one of the ebony chests, pulling out a black wig.

"You're going to wear that?" Yuugi raised an eyebrow – okay, the wig seemed very luxurious and exquisitely made, but Atem's natural hair seemed a lot more interesting to Yuugi. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it reminded him of his own hair.

"No. But you are," Atem smirked and before Yuugi could protest, the wig was on his head.

"You are not supposed to look like me until next week. It would be better if no one else knew about my double… just in case," the Prince shrugged and Yuugi could see the tiny shiver that ran down the Prince's spine. Until that moment, it still hadn't quite settled in his mind just how dangerous this whole thing was going to be, but seeing a man as mighty and powerful as Prince Atem shiver (in fear, as it seemed to Yuugi) definitely didn't add to Yuugi's mood, and as he followed the Prince through the palace, he was beginning to feel a little scared himself. He just hoped the reward would really be worth it…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Atem sat on the golden stool, listening to the court advisors yelling at each other about every little thing. The meeting was boring as usual, but Atem, the Crown Prince and thus Pharaoh's first advisor, couldn't just excuse himself as some of the calmer, wiser advisors already did. He had to sit through the whole damn meeting and watch those goat-brained imbeciles argue whether it was more important to stop the trades with Persia or strengthen the guards in the palace (both had already been done, and the argument was purely based on some principle Atem couldn't quite grasp).

He turned his head a little, so he could see with the side of his eye how his new 'page' was doing. So far, it seemed that Yuugi was able to acquire his new role very well, and no one in the room really dared to ask questions. It was common that pretty young boy pages came and went through the palace gates, and through the conference rooms, more frequently than anyone could count. It wasn't that usual for Atem to have one of those, as he was still young enough – and rich enough – to entertain himself with some of the best women in Egypt… but no one really gave a damn. Thebes, and especially the royal palace, was like that.

The only one probably as bored and as confined to this room as Atem was the Chief General, sitting on the opposite end of the table and not even bothering to conceal his boredom. Atem frowned – Bakura was getting more annoying by the day, especially with that competitive streak of his. Atem never really did anything to piss the man off, but he was constantly getting the vibes of hatred from him. Bakura apparently set his mind on achieving more in life than Atem, a task quite impossible if your opponent was the Crown Prince of Egypt. The hopelessness of his goal had left him bitter and irritable, and Atem silently pitied the guy – he had achieved a lot, being the Chief General in his young age, and with his background of being a son of a servant, not an aristocrat. It was a dream, a fairytale come true, but Bakura still seemed to want more and more, and that was making him very pitiful in Atem's eyes.

Pitiful… and irritating. Especially when Bakura's most favorite pastime was stealing anything Atem as much as set his eyes on. If he said at one dinner that he really liked the honey-covered nuts, next evening he'd see Bakura's mouth stuffed full of the nuts even though the General hated sweets… just so Atem couldn't get any. If he voiced his opinion that the flowers in the back of the garden were blooming beautifully, next time he'd take a walk out there he'd see all the flowers pulled off and only bare branches left behind. It went on for too long for Atem's liking already, but he usually just waved it off, even on those few times when Bakura, not an ugly man by any standards, managed to get first to the girl Atem had spotted through the whole room and wanted to talk to, but couldn't due to his official duties.

Atem never really made a big deal out of it… but it was getting annoying.

When the meeting ended, Atem spotted the curious look of Bakura's eyes that was following his new page. He frowned – this whole thing with a double was far too important to get messed up by Bakura's silly ambitions or envy.

"Be careful of that white-haired guy," he muttered to Yuugi as they were leaving the meeting room, "he might try to befriend you. Don't let him fool you into telling him anything – he's not stupid and can use the information in... an unfavorable way."

Yuugi raised an eyebrow so high it disappeared under the fringe of his wig:

"Why do you keep enemies at your court, then?"

Atem sighed. If only it were that easy… it showed that Yuugi knew nothing about politics.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," he said to Yuugi's question and walked to his own rooms. He needed some rest after this bullshit… and then get back to work.

"Bring me some fresh wine… and be sure to come to the wine cellar yourself, I don't want to risk poisoning again," Atem ordered and stretched on his recliner, watching his grumbling servant stomp out of his room. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yuugi really, really didn't like being ordered around. It pissed him off… but then, he remembered his weight in gold… and decided to put on as much weight as he could, so the reward for this treatment would at least be worth it.

On his way to the kitchen, he met Jou, who was in considerably better mood than Yuugi, and even in better mood when he saw his younger friend in that wig.

"Don't even comment on that," Yuugi grumbled, and Jou just grinned, running a hand through his hair in a gesture that was uncharacteristic for him – then, Yuugi spotted a thin silver circle on Jou's wrist, and his eyes widened.

"Where did you steal that?" Yuugi asked – if there was a chance of getting something like that immediately, not only after he posed as a double, he wanted it too.

Jou just frowned at him in his best scolding manner:

"I didn't STEAL it… I received it, as payment," he winked, and Yuugi raised a skeptical eyebrow at the blonde.

"Payment. Right. For what? Is the mage as perverted as he's psychotic?"

Jou blushed, and frowned deeper.

"It's not like that, idiot. I helped him with some Greek translations…and then he asked me to bring some wine because his throat was sore. Imagine that – he almost scolded me for having to read out that political crap aloud!" Jou whined, and Yuugi nodded solemnly.

"Yeah… they're going to make slaves out of us…"

Jou obviously bit his tongue in order to not say 'it was your idea', and Yuugi shrugged as they walked to the kitchen and to the wine cellar together. Maybe they were going to be slaves… but after they managed to snatch some fig-flavored bread in the kitchen, they both decided that maybe being a slave in an environment like this wasn't that bad.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next few days mostly went on in the usual pattern. Both Yuugi and Jou had to rise early to not be late for their duties, as being late resulted in pissed-off Atem and Seth. Neither of that was worth the short moment of sleep.

Before breakfast, they had to wash themselves – both the Crown Prince and the Court Mage bitched a lot about the smell if they didn't, so again, in order to not piss those two off, Jou and Yuugi adapted reluctantly to the idea of strict hygiene.

Then, there was breakfast, and Yuugi as the personal page was forced to carry plates with fruit he had never seen before and set it before Atem, so His Highness (or whatever his title was, Yuugi didn't particularly care) could stuff his face in front of Yuugi's hungry stare. Yuugi then wished that he was the one who could speak Greek, so he would be selected by Seth, who didn't require such services. From what Jou told Yuugi on one of the evening when they weren't too tired to talk more than a minute, Seth usually got his food himself, no matter how frowned upon that was by the higher-ups, who considered it as offensive and distasteful. In fact, Seth seemed to rather like doing things frowned upon, and his attitude to the higher-ups (not that many, considering his own status) was 'fuck you'. That was, according to Jou, the reason why he was still unmarried and childless, even though he was probably closer to thirty years than he looked, and was supposed to have at least three sons by now.

After breakfast, their days went their separate ways, as Yuugi was following Atem around the palace, standing behind his back during most of his duties, and sometimes dismissed to stand outside the room so he couldn't hear some super-secret information. Yuugi was constantly irked with that, because it made him feel as nothing more than a servant, a slave. And the knowledge that really he was nothing more… it didn't help.

On the other hand, Jou was being treated a little better. Even though he didn't know how to read or write hieroglyphs, he could translate Greek documents, and that was something not many people in the court, including the irritable Court Mage, could do. The silver circle on his wrist was soon joined by a few more, though he usually came to the room he shared with Yuugi just as tired as if he were running around the whole day.

But while Jou complained about difficult political stuff in Greek letters, Yuugi usually came back with his head swarming with new information. He was slowly learning the way Atem walked, talked, gestured, looked at others – it was tiring, watching someone so closely day by day, but also rewarding, when, on the sixth day, they tried to dress Yuugi up while Atem hid behind a pillar – to test whether Yuugi was at least partially ready for his task. The servant who brought dinner didn't recognize the difference and addressed Yuugi as the Crown Prince, and Yuugi had a hard time not to grin all the time that evening.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Don't be so nervous, it'll go just fine," Yuugi said, ignoring the proper etiquette according to which he shouldn't say anything unless he was directly asked. But Atem's pacing around the whole room was distressing to the point when Yuugi would rather have his head taken off immediately for rudeness than enduring it even a while longer.

"I don't know. It's still highly risky," Atem muttered and paced the room again, his palms sweating a little and his forehead wrinkled with worry.

"The servant took me for the Crown Prince. It'll be fine," Yuugi said again, and sighed. It was the morning of the next celebration that was to be held, and next meeting with Greek officials too. A perfect time for assassination, and the first chance for Yuugi to show what he had learned from Atem in public. He was just as nervous as Atem, especially when he remembered that he'd be the one in mortal danger out there in the streets… but there was no going back now.

He looked into the polished bronze mirror again – he couldn't believe how a person could change with just a bit of royal makeup, scented oil over his skin, softest linen instead of rough peasant fabric and luxurious jewelry. And of course… how the Crown Prince could become a servant in the terrible wig, plain cotton wrap around his hips and his feet bare on the warm stone floor. Immediately, Yuugi imagined how Atem would grimace if he stepped into a pile of donkey shit in the streets during the march, and he chuckled, earning an angry glare from the Prince.

"There's nothing funny about the situation."

"Oh yes, there is," Yuugi giggled, the image still in his head, "and stop pacing so much, it drives me mad."

"Adopting the royal attitude already?" Atem sneered at him, but stopped and settled against the wall, looking over the balcony at the city of Thebes, arms crossed over his chest defensively.

Yuugi didn't have the time to apologize (even if he wanted to) as the door opened and Seth came in, glancing momentarily before Atem and Yuugi, and the boy knew that the mage could tell the difference after a second.

Yet, he still addressed Yuugi with a small bow.

"Your Highness, everything is ready."

Yuugi took a deep breath, told himself that he could do it, thought about the gold that awaited him as a reward and walked out of the room in his best Atem-like stride, followed by his 'personal page'.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yuugi did his very best to appear as royal as he could, and to his surprise saw that it wasn't as difficult as he had imagined it would be. It was just like a game – he played the role of a Pharaoh's son in a children's game, at least he told himself that when his hands started shaking a little as they went through the streets full of cheering people. He was driving a battle chariot with two strong horses and it felt like he really was someone important, with the way people yelled loudly as he went past them. They stopped the march for a moment so people could look at the royals, just as at least hundred times in the past half an hour. It was quite nice, actually… seeing all those people smile and wave… even though Yuugi knew the other side of the march as well, the guards standing behind the people and looking very pointedly at their weapons if anyone tried to NOT look happy.

Just at the moment when he wanted to relax and tell himself than nothing bad would happen, something flashed before his eyes. Yuugi turned to look where the flash was coming from, and with horror saw a guy standing just a few feet from his chariot. He held a large knife and looked like he had been turned into a stone. Yuugi couldn't see what was holding him back from attacking, but the panicked look in his dark eyes showed that he wasn't just standing there out of his own will. His hand with the knife was still raised over his head – which looked more Persian than Egyptian to Yuugi, when he looked a little closer. Funny thing was that no one else seemed to see the guy just standing in front of the Pharaoh's son with a raised knife.

No one except Seth, who strolled casually past Yuugi's chariot, decked out in his ritual clothes, his usual large golden chain hanging on his neck and glittering in the sunlight. For a silly second Yuugi thought that it was the chain that blinded everyone so much that no one saw the attacker – but then he spotted that Seth raised his hand, a gesture which could be considered casual. Could be, if Yuugi didn't see how the attacker's face contorted with fear, then pain, and then he fell to his knees, knife slipping out of his fingers as he grabbed his throat and coughed.

A few drops of clotted blood fell to the ground and mingled with the dust. Yuugi's eyes widened with horror.

"Don't forget your act," he heard Seth's quiet voice remind him of who he was supposed to impersonate, as the whole procession started moving again, no one looking at the guy coughing blood on the ground.

Yuugi's hands shook on the golden reins of his horses, but he kept up his listless façade. It was good that no one expected the Crown Prince to smile and wave at the crowds, because Yuugi couldn't smile now even if he tried his best.

A servant came up when the procession stopped again after a few minutes, and Yuugi wanted to wave him off, still annoyed and distressed at what had happened – but then he noticed it was Atem, his look under that wig as grave as Yuugi's own. Yuugi took a piece of fresh fruit and nodded at Atem – the knowledge that he had just helped save Atem's life, even if just a little, spread in him like honey on a cake.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why didn't you do anything about that bastard?!" Yuugi growled and didn't give a damn about the fact that Seth could very well tear his head off – maybe quite literally, after what Yuugi saw today with that assassin.

"What else do you think I could do in the middle of the street?" Seth asked and frowned, rubbing the bridge of his nose in irritation. The boy was infuriating, really – Seth had just saved his life, and suddenly the boy was a security expert. It was surely true that when you offered a finger to a peasant, he bit off your whole hand…

"I don't know! Capture him! For interrogation!" Yuugi yelled, and Seth rolled his eyes.

"It's not like we don't know who paid for the assassination. I sent them a warning, and I prevented commoners from noticing. That's everything I could've done, and you better stick to your part, peasant," Seth barked out, and Atem, who had just entered, gasped:

"There was another attack?"

"No, they gave up after one unsuccessful try," Seth growled sarcastically, but when he saw Atem's look, he bowed a little with just his head: "I apologize. Yes, there was another attack."

Atem sighed and heavily sat in one of the chairs, burying his face, already washed from the dust of the roads, in his hands.

"Will this ever stop?"

"No," Seth said, brutally honest, and both Yuugi and Atem gave him a pained look. Though the peasant's eyes carried maybe a little more annoyance.

"I'm not staying here forever," Yuugi growled, and Seth smirked at him:

"I sure hope not."

With a short bow to the Prince, he excused himself and went back to his own rooms – there were still the damned Greek documents to translate. Seth just hoped that the idiot blonde aide didn't get pissed with the silver he had on his arms to the point where he wouldn't be able to talk.

Atem sighed again and looked up, his eyes fixing on Yuugi. If he knew it would be like this… he would decline from the start. His father's idea was outrageous as usual. Endangering someone else's life was beyond all borders.

…but that was stupid. Of course Atem knew from the beginning. However, when that idea was presented to him, he'd gladly have been merged with Set's demons if it gave him protection. He had been scared out of his mind by those first two attacks, and the third one, though aimed at him through a double, didn't make him feel any less terrified.

"You shouldn't be going through this," he said, his stare still lingering on his double. The boy was so young, could have a good life… or could die during the next march. Atem's throat squeezed at that. He didn't want to live with the knowledge that someone died because of him. Of course – with war, it would be thousands dying for him. But – that was different. Those thousands were anonymous, soldiers that always seemed all the same to Atem. Yuugi was one particular person, maybe just an uneducated peasant, a thief, but… he wasn't anonymous anymore, and sending him out to a bloodied battlefield seemed terribly wrong.

"Why are you even doing it?" he asked quietly and ran his hands through his hair, suddenly feeling very, very old and tired of everything. Of the dirty machinations one had to go through to rule a country, of the unfair measures one had to take to at least try and stay fair.

The uneducated peasant boy stepped closer and even though he had already washed away the royal makeup, the scent of the oil Atem used for his own skin still lingered on his slightly smaller body. Atem looked up at him – the boy's face seemed as if he was really thinking about a reason.

"Because you can't die," he said at last, his tone dead serious and for some reason Atem's heart squeezed painfully at that. If this boy, this child, also recognized his importance…then maybe it was true. Maybe there was a point to this whole thing, maybe… it wasn't so bad to be a Prince after all.

Before Atem could say 'thank you', the little goat-head giggled and waved his hand:

"Just kiddin'. I'm in for the gold, of course."

Atem couldn't help but raise one corner of his mouth in a crooked grin – but something inside him wished that Yuugi stayed with the first, serious answer.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you still beating yourself up because of yesterday's attack?" Yuugi grinned after the breakfast and didn't even blink when Atem glared at him for his rudeness.

"You do realize I could have YOU beaten up for your impudence, don't you?"

"Yup… but I know you won't do that. You're a good guy, even if you act like this sometimes."

Atem gaped at Yuugi's absolute confidence in him – it was something unbelievable for a mere servant, a peasant. He really should have the brat punished… only he couldn't bring himself to wipe that cheeky grin off Yuugi's face. The kid seemed so energetic that it seemed like a lie to Atem that someone had attacked Yuugi yesterday. Would kill him, if Seth wasn't there on time… but Yuugi didn't seem to care at all.

And… hearing that he was 'a good guy' somehow brought a small smile to Atem's own lips. He could feel Yuugi's contemplative gaze on himself and he tried to shift away from it, but after a moment it was too much to bear and he looked up, meeting Yuugi's eyes.

"Yes?" he asked, a slight tone of impatience in his voice, but Yuugi just shrugged:

"Nothing. I was just wondering how it was, being raised in a palace like this."

Atem raised an eyebrow at that. He never really wondered about 'how it was' – he just lived it, day after day, never knowing anything else. The Prince shrugged, shifting through his memories to find something distinct in the blur of eating, playing and studying.

"What do you think it was like?"

Yuugi's eyes misted over with dreamy haze.

"I think it must've been great… having all that weird, but good food… and this big place to run around and so many toys … you know I always wanted that wooden alligator you could just pull behind you and it rattled… did you have a lot of those? I bet you did, and they were made of gold, not wood, right?"

His babbling should have most probably annoyed Atem – if it were anyone else, he would be irritated for sure. But somehow he couldn't bring himself to tell Yuugi to shut up. His face was practically glowing with the way he imagined things so brightly, and Atem smiled softly at that, carried away to the land of memories too.

"Actually I never did… the nurse-maids raising me thought it was too much of a peasant pastime for a Prince. When I was a kid, I used to watch the streets from a balcony… and I remember that all I wanted was a wooden toy just like that."

Atem shook his head and looked away, to the door to the balcony, but the small smile didn't disappear from his face. Yes… it wasn't as ideal as Yuugi had imagined it… most probably because good food or expensive toys didn't mean much to Atem.

He turned back to Yuugi:

"What was it like, being raised as a commoner?"

Yuugi actually had the audacity to giggle at that question.

"Dunno about normal families… I was raised by my Grandpa… Dad was killed in the war soon after I was born, and Mom died when I was two. When Grandpa passed away, I had to take care of myself, so I started stealing… I was around ten then, I guess."

Atem felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the boy. Maybe his life wasn't exactly the same as Yuugi's, but he knew about losing people he loved before he could even get to know them properly.

"My mother died, too," Atem said, surprised himself that he was telling this to a commoner, a servant… no. It wasn't just a commoner – it was Yuugi, the one who was risking his life for Atem, and it didn't matter that it was for the gold. He WAS doing it, and that was what mattered… what made Atem suddenly want to tell him more, become human in the boy's eyes, not just a figure of a god that had to be preserved.

Yuugi's raised eyebrow prompted him to continue.

"I was probably five or six then. Not that I remember her much – she was busy giving birth to my sisters most of the time… three of them, and they all died before they reached their first year. Mother passed away giving birth to the last of them. But I guess I was never really alone – there were always the nurse-maids, some were really nice… and the other servants, and Seth's father – he was a good guy… I thought he'd kill Seth for sure when he decided to become Set's priest instead of Isis' like the old man was…" Atem chuckled at that memory of one scrawny young boy opposing his father… Seth had grown a lot since that, but whenever Atem became a little scared of Seth's actions and unpredictable mind, he remembered that one moment and little Seth's defiant glare over his pout.

Yuugi apparently saw it the same way, because he whistled appreciatively and giggled:

"I can't imagine that psycho as a kid."

Atem wanted to reprimand the boy – he still was just a commoner, and currently insulting a high royal official… but… this was Yuugi. And he was insulting Seth. Which was what Atem liked to do too, and it felt kind of refreshing to hear someone who wasn't scared shitless of the mage either.

So Atem only chuckled:

"He'd kill you if he heard you. I guess he can't remember himself as a kid either."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day started quite normally. Breakfast was served, hygiene imposed on some members of the household and the corridors echoed with Seth's booming voice.

Yuugi rolled his eyes. It wasn't new that Seth was yelling at someone early in the morning – what was more interesting was the fact that he was yelling at Jou this time. Yuugi walked closer without even bothering to hide; it didn't seem that either his blonde friend or the mage would notice his presence.

"It's not like you'd actually MISS it," Jou was just saying defiantly, with a slight pout on his face as always when he got reprimanded, and Yuugi chuckled at that.

Which wasn't a very good idea, seeing as it brought Seth's furious attention to him.

"YOU!" Seth boomed, and his pointed finger went from Jou to Yuugi. "You two are just filthy rogues! All you do is laze around the whole day and bitch, and then you actually have the audacity to STEAL! If I find out ONE more time that you nicked anything from the palace, I'll show you what a torture chamber is for!"

The door to his study slammed behind the mage, and Jou sighed, grinning at amazed Yuugi.

"What… was that about?" Yuugi frowned – okay, he WAS in mortal danger with what he was doing for the Pharaoh's son, but he didn't actually have a death wish. And stealing something in the royal palace while still staying in there was equal to tattooing a shooting target to his chest.

Jou just shrugged and waved his hand dismissively:

"Nah, don't mind him. He just woke up with his ass up in the air this morning."

Yuugi giggled at the stupid metaphor – Jou used them a lot, and Yuugi wasn't sure whether it were the remains of Jou's life abroad, or those things would sound stupid even back in Greece.

"And… it's not like they would notice a ruby or two in here, right?" Jou winked and pulled a ruby the size of a human eye out of… Yuugi DIDN'T want to know where from, considering that Jou was wearing just a thin linen skirt like most of the servants. He just rolled his eyes at the blonde:

"Don't let him catch you next time or we're dead."

"Roger," Jou winked again and without the slightest sign of repentance on his face, opened the door to the hellish study and walked in, closing the door again.

Yuugi blinked. Jou was either very brave or very stupid… or Seth's study contained more things to be stolen and sold. No normal mortal would dare cross the mage in THAT mood… Yuugi just shrugged and went on his way to Atem's chambers. If Jou wanted to die that badly… it was his choice.

"What took you so long?" Atem seemed irritated, but Yuugi had learned to not mind his barks and orders much. When he was buried ass-deep in some papyri, it was better to just leave him alone until he was finished. Then, he could actually be a pleasant companion and talk about funny things Yuugi never heard of.

So Yuugi put on his best fake smile and waved his hand:

"Nothing important… just go back to your work and here… have some figs when I already bothered with bringing them to you."

He put the tray down in front of the Crown Prince and expected to be barked at as usual, but no reprimand came as the Prince was ignorant of his surroundings once again. When Yuugi turned away to leave, however, he saw that Atem reached with his gold-decorated hand thoughtlessly and put one fig into his mouth.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Atem shook his head and looked down at the papyrus spread out in front of him. He was supposed to study languages or go through some treaties with Greece – but his eyes strayed to the balcony door again and he sighed, resting his head on his elbow.

He felt like someone had drugged him, like that one time when he was eleven and he got sick, so the royal healer had to give him some weird herbs. Only this time, all of his food and wine got inspected so closely that there was no chance drugs were involved. Atem sighed – he nearly wished it was just a drug, and not the consistent bugging feeling in his stomach. Most probably, he was just nervous as the next ceremonial march was approaching – it was just a minor one, but this time Atem was rather reluctant to let Yuugi go out there. What if there was another attack… he didn't even want to think about it. Since Yuugi had come about a month ago, Atem got used to his constant presence. He was different from other servants – they blended into background, never talked until expressly addressed, their faces were all just the same, just as their gestures, their movements, their voices. Yuugi was a blow of fresh air in the still, dusty atmosphere of the palace, and Atem didn't want to watch him die. Yuugi actually talked to him, and in the last few days he even stopped mentioning gold and gems. Atem actually had a feeling that Yuugi was interested in the things Atem told him – and that was something extremely rare in the royal environment.

Just like last evening – they were working on Yuugi's manner of speech again, which consisted mostly of Atem talking and Yuugi listening, and then Yuugi had to repeat what Atem said, not word for word, but in the similar vocabulary and with the same content. Of course, Yuugi was mostly for showing, not talking – when actual negotiations were carried out, it was always the real Prince talking to the emissaries. There was too much at stake for Egypt to leave these talks to a peasant, no matter how great an impostor he was. Even though the danger of attacks was great on the negotiations too, it was far less probable than out in the open, so Atem insisted on talking to the Greeks himself.

The Prince sighed again and stretched on the table all over his papyri. Now, he felt like taking on full responsibility and calling off this whole 'double' deal… but his responsibilities towards the country bound his hands tightly. It was frustrating, to be maybe the second most influential person in the country and still not be able to do what he really wanted. Just like Yuugi told him last night…

"What do you want to do?" he asked, with his eager, open expression, and Atem frowned slightly.

"Of course, I want to be a great Pharaoh one day. Rule Egypt fairly and bring it to full prosperity," he answered, and frowned deeper when Yuugi actually laughed. It wasn't a malicious, mocking laughter, though. It was like… like Yuugi was just expressing that Atem misunderstood, but didn't make fun of him.

"I meant you, the person, not you, the Crown Prince," Yuugi explained, his eyes sparkling curiously in the light of oil lamps, and Atem was taken aback. No one ever separated the two before. Not even he himself had ever asked what he would want to do if he were not a Prince – he was, and that was all that mattered in his life. His role of a successor to the crown of Egypt ruled his world absolutely, without excuses or exceptions, and Atem almost had difficulties with breathing when suddenly, someone negated this unity of his existence just like that. As if it were actually possible for him to stop being a Crown Prince and start being… Atem.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, and then Yuugi went on rambling about what HE would like to do if he could choose absolutely anything – a high priest, or just a rich royal court member who wouldn't have to work for the rest of his life, or maybe own a pub… there were many things and Atem tried his best to imagine himself in those positions, but he couldn't. His mind was too used to the fact that he was a Prince and one day he'd be a Pharaoh. However, Yuugi fitted so naturally into any of those pictures that Atem involuntarily started wondering who was the slave here – he, with his luxurious, but prescribed life, or Yuugi, a pauper and a thief, but free to make his choices.

This air of freedom fascinated Atem more than anything. It was something strange, unattainable to him, something so in conflict with the view of peasants as predetermined servants that had been drilled into his head through years that he couldn't help but being drawn to it. If there was such a thing as freedom for poor peasants, it was definitely represented in its highest form in Yuugi.

And here he was, actually binding that freedom and sending it off to be destroyed by some assassin in the streets. Atem sighed – no, he didn't want Yuugi to be killed. And he was secretly glad that Seth had performed that blood-protection ritual on Yuugi as well, even though the Pharaoh had scolded Seth for doing so. He said that the ritual's value had diminished because of Seth's foolish act, and Seth listened with his head hung down in humility. Atem didn't say anything in his defense – for one, because his father was the only one to whom Seth didn't dare talk back. And then also because at that time, he could only see it the way his father did – an unnecessary heroic stupidity Seth did just to impress some peasants.

Now… Atem was wondering whether Seth had seen something in those peasants, or more like in Yuugi, which Atem couldn't see in the beginning.

He smirked at his papyrus. No way… Seth wasn't the perceptive kind, not when it came to peasants. He was as detached from the outside world as Atem himself, always closed off in his study and with his demons… Atem couldn't help but think about how the magician got along with the blonde guy, Jou. And whether he felt this air of liberty from him too. If the occasional yelling from the corridor was any sign… he didn't.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bakura frowned at the sky. Life had been so unfair to him… all his life he had to make his way like a bastard, when in fact his father was the same as Atem's. The only difference was that the Prince's mother had been a queen, while Bakura was born to a servant girl after one of Pharaoh's 'fun' nights. He knew the whole story now, after his mother told him the secret of his birth at her deathbed. Other servants thought that his childless mother found the boy in a basket at the river… but it was her own child, his and the Pharaoh's, though he never acknowledged this son.

When Bakura had heard this, he realized he was as good as Atem… only he wasn't. He was regarded as a peasant, no matter who his real father was. Especially when the Pharaoh never really noticed him. Bakura had to work hard to be where was now, and he could still see the sneers that appeared on some royals' faces when he entered the room. As if he were nothing more than dirt under their shoes… when in fact his blood was by far more aristocratic than theirs combined.

That secret had been gnawing at Bakura's soul for years. He had joined the army in hopes of being noticed by the Pharaoh, but he was nothing more than a soldier, even when he learned how to read and write and achieved high commanding status. No… even when he became mad for the victory at the battlefield and secured peace in Egypt with his own bloodied hands, he was still just a lesser man in view of many, his stepbrother included.

Bakura couldn't deny that he hated Atem. And the Pharaoh, too… he hated them both as fiercely as he craved words of acknowledgement from them. And since they never came, his feelings turned sour. No matter what he did, how honorably he behaved… he was still seen as inferior to them, and that was driving him crazy. Especially now that the Greek-Egyptian union was to be formed and his importance as a war general would diminish significantly. Bakura remembered what he had heard as a child – that Greece would fall one day, and they would drag Egypt down with them if Egypt joined forces with them. Bakura didn't want that to happen… and didn't want to lose what little power he had acquired through the years.

Bakura sneered. These times were so important… and what was the Crown Prince doing? Wasting his time playing around with his new servant. Gods only knew where he had dug that one out, or who brought that boy to Atem, but the Prince seemed out of his mind for that boy. That peasant, Yuugi, always stood behind the Prince's back, even on some important conferences. From what Bakura knew, he was officially Atem's page-boy, a title usually given to those pretty young boys that entertained old noblemen during the night with more than dancing and singing. The boy himself was rude and unused to royal atmosphere, and Bakura could hardly bear to not glare at him… but on the other hand, there was something in the boy's looks that made Bakura want to dominate him. It was probably just Bakura's consistent grudge against Atem and his unwavering wish to somehow be better than him, but… Bakura could swear the boy looked a little like the Prince himself. Maybe that was what striked Atem's fancy as well… and that was another reason Bakura decided to befriend the servant boy. He could find out something about Atem he could use… or at least piss the Prince off, if his interest in Yuugi was really of physical kind.

It was always like this, small puns done out of spite, but Bakura knew that was probably everything he would be ever allowed. He couldn't tell anyone that he was the Pharaoh's son. He would be beheaded for dirtying the name of the Pharaoh, and nothing would be solved… like this, Bakura could at least enjoy little victories over Atem, no matter how childish and stupid they might look to other people. That was the only thing that kept Bakura's sanity at least temporarily… and stealing Atem's love interest seemed like a great one.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yuugi sat down under a large blossoming tree. The gardens in the palace were so beautiful, and he had so little time to explore them. Mostly, he had to be near Atem to watch his way of walking, talking and such shit… and when he was not with Atem, he was with Seth and boring language and politics lectures. Just like today – since morning, he had been listening to the mage's rambling and Yuugi could swear his ears were bleeding now from all that crap they had to take. No wonder he took off as soon as Jou came in with questions about the translation he was making. Seth obviously had a lot of work to do, because, according to what Jou said, he had appointed a scribe to Jou, who read the Greek documents aloud and who wrote down Jou's translation. That way the mage made time for Yuugi – and the boy was 'extremely' happy with that. Really… he couldn't understand how it was possible that he remembered more information from Atem's fantastic stories than from Seth's long lectures… but he did.

Yuugi pulled down the wig that had been bothering his poor head for more than a month now – really, he hated that thing. He closed his eyes and dozed off for a second or two, thinking about all the stories Atem told him, about goddesses and gods and demons and so on. It was so interesting… he could just sit the whole day and listen. And Atem had a nice voice, too, good for storytelling. Maybe if he weren't a Prince, he could be a storyteller… Yuugi chuckled. He couldn't really imagine Atem as anything but the Prince he was. Even during that march, dressed in plain linen skirt and no gold, he looked royal.

At the crack of a twig in the grass, Yuugi's eyes snapped open and he pulled on his wig immediately. He cursed under his breath when he saw who the intruder was. It was that white-haired guy Atem had warned him about, standing there like nothing was going on and even smiling at Yuugi.

"Hello," the man said – Yuugi searched his memory for his name. Bakhus… Baku-something… right. Bakura. The general. And Atem's enemy, or something like that.

"Good day to you, sir," Yuugi said, his tone wary just as his eyes when he stood up from the ground and bowed to the general. Even though he had been allowed a lowered standard of politeness in Atem's presence, it didn't mean all royals would accept his rudeness without a comment… or a punishment. And another march was coming up – Yuugi couldn't afford to have his back all bruised and torn from lashing just because he couldn't hold his tongue.

But the general just smiled even wider and waved his hand to indicate that such politeness wasn't necessary.

"Please. I am but a commoner, like you. I just felt like talking to you when I saw you under that tree."

Yuugi raised an eyebrow. He didn't sound very threatening… in fact, he sounded rather normal, especially when compared to someone like Seth. Yuugi smiled back:

"Yeah… I like it here. The gardens are so pretty."

"They are. The Pharaoh built them for his first wife," the general said and there was a certain tone of melancholy in his voice. Yuugi blinked: okay. He definitely didn't look like the evil guy Atem and Seth made him out to be. Maybe he was just a little lonely in this place full of rich, stuck-up people.

Yuugi's thought was confirmed by the general's soft smile.

"I don't think we were properly introduced. I am Bakura."

The way he ignored his official status immediately earned Yuugi's sympathies, and he smiled too.

"I'm Yuugi."

"Nice to meet you. So… how was your day, Yuugi?"

The general waved his hand towards a pathway that led between the trees and plants, and fell into step beside Yuugi as the boy started talking, still a little cautious. But… he did nothing wrong, right? It wasn't like he was TELLING Bakura anything he couldn't find out by asking any other servant…

"I mostly spent it with Seth. You know, the mage?"

"I do," Bakura smiled, "the scary maniac, right?"

That almost won Yuugi over.

"Right? He's scary as Underworld."

"I bet he's not that scary once you get to know him."

"Nah. He's pretty bad even then. Or maybe I just didn't get to know him properly yet. Not that I care much to do so," he waved his hand, glad that the conversation wasn't running too close to Atem or politics. He could maybe talk to this nice general a little longer, and then change Atem's opinion on him. He really wasn't such a fucker, what with his interest in others. And the way he was defending even SETH, of all people, he must have been a God of Patience in human form.

"Maybe there just wasn't the right occasion. Have you ever tried talking to him privately?"

Yuugi shivered. He'd rather go out into the streets with a shooting target painted over his ass.

Then, something occurred to him and he smirked. Could it be that this general actually LIKED the scary mage?!

"Not really… you think I should?"

"Maybe you'd be surprised," Bakura said in a non-committal way and looked to the side, seemingly admiring the flowers. Yuugi smirked. Riight…

"Yuugi!" Atem's voice sounded angry, and Yuugi just had enough time to give a little apologetic smile to Bakura. The general smiled back, and Yuugi hurried to the Prince with a wide grin. So, the general liked Seth…? Ha… that was priceless. This whole palace was so fucked up…

"What did you talk to him about?" Atem growled, and Yuugi frowned.

"Not much. Just general stuff. How was my day and so on. Why are you so bothered, anyway? He seems like a nice guy."

"That's exactly the problem," Atem frowned at where Bakura was still standing with a smile on his lips. "He'll be nice to you until he stabs you in the back."

Yuugi just rolled his eyes.

"At least he was interested in me."

Atem looked like he had swallowed a lemon and huffed all the way back to his rooms, but he said nothing, and Yuugi couldn't help but wonder what did he do wrong – so wrong that it took several hours for Atem to speak to him again. And even then, there were no stories for the day, which Yuugi regretted bitterly.

So, when Atem, just before dismissing Yuugi for the day, barked 'I don't want you to meet him anymore, nor talk to him or answer his questions', Yuugi just nodded and walked to his and Jou's room with the feeling that Bakura was maybe nice, but not worth losing Atem's stories over.

Jou was already in their room, sprawled over his bed and yawning, when Yuugi entered.

"Hey… how was today?" Jou asked with a grin, knowing full well that Yuugi had to endure Seth's lectures that day.

Yuugi fell on his own bed with a whine.

"Don't even ask. If you hadn't come in then, I'd surely die a moment later. He is so damn boring…"

Jou made a face at that.

"He's not. He can talk about pretty interesting stuff… you just need to ask the right questions at the right time and not let him ramble freely."

Yuugi grinned, remembering someone else who was defending Seth's reputation today, and lifted himself up on his elbows, smirking at Jou.

"You know who I met today? Bakura. That white-haired general."

Jou didn't seem very interested, so Yuugi continued:

"We talked for about five minutes, and he seemed pretty interested in Seth. Asked me whole lot of questions…"

Jou huffed at that.

"I hope you didn't tell him anything. If he's so interested, he should bother finding out himself."

"What? Getting all jealous over your mage?" Yuugi giggled, and his reward was Jou's glare.

"I'm not jealous. And he's not MY mage. He's an obnoxious bastard. All I'm saying is that it's not very general-like to go around asking weird questions about people. He should just ask that particular person. Anyway, I don't like that white-haired guy. He's psychotic."

"Seth is, too… maybe they would go well together?"

Jou growled again, and Yuugi tried hard to stifle his chuckles in his fist, but it didn't really help.

"It's not funny."

Jou's pouting expression, on the contrary, was extremely funny and Yuugi burst into full laughter:

"You're SO jealous!"

"I'm not!" Jou yelled and jumped off his bed – Yuugi was still laughing at that. After all, Jou was a crazy guy too, he got mad at silliest things easily, but also cooled down real fast. All he probably needed was a walk in the cool night air, and he'd be fine… Yuugi turned to his side and closed his eyes. Jou needed a walk, and he needed some sleep, before he'd be tortured with lectures and etiquette again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jou growled quietly and shivered when the cold wind blew over his naked skin. Damn Yuugi for teasing him like that. Like he'd be able to feel anything for a bastard like that stupid mage. Ha, right. Jou would find a nice girl (okay, maybe a guy), but definitely not an asshole like Seth. No damn way. Why was Yuugi so… irritating about that… damn.

Jou growled again when he realized his feet brought him automatically to Seth's study, close to the small inner Set's temple. It felt as if his own reflexes mocked him about Seth… Jou sighed. He didn't even _like_ Seth. So he couldn't be jealous over stupid things like some general asking about him. And the general was a stuck-up pain in the ass, not like Seth would ever look at him. Not like Seth looked much at people anyway.

Jou growled for the third time. He was NOT reassured by that fact, he wasn't!

He entered the temple thoughtlessly and looked around. No… this place didn't bring any feelings to him – it was dull there, not many decorations like for example in Amon's temples, or Isis'… just plain walls without much paintings on them. Probably the only pretty thing there was an ebony figurine in the corner carrying golden armlets, bracelets and a golden chain, along with a blue cloak. Jou reached his hand and traced the chain with his fingers… then he smirked mischievously and took it from the figurine's neck. It wasn't as heavy as he had expected – the links of the chain were actually pretty small and fitted into Jou's secret pocket without even bulging the linen out. He smirked – Seth would be furious when he found out another of his useless pretty things disappeared… and Jou would prove to Yuugi that he didn't give a shit about Seth or his opinion… right?!

Calmed and grinning, Jou went back to their shared room, imagining Seth's anger when he noticed the theft.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jou looked around in the crowd, cheerfully yelling here and there in order to not raise suspicion of the back guards. He hated all marches when he had to stand in the hot, dry air, amidst hundreds of sweating, screaming people, looking at someone he had seen thousands of times and who never did anything else than just pass around them on his golden chariot.

This time was even worse, because that celebrated Prince was in fact Yuugi. Again. Jou bounced on his heels, looking through the crowd and trying to see some suspicious people. Of course, he had been offered a place in the march itself, as one of the servants – Yuugi insisted on that. But after Seth almost went mad when he couldn't find his golden chain, Jou found it wiser to stay away from the mage. He had not returned the chain yet… in fact it was quite funny to watch Seth turn the palace upside down and nearly strangle some priests in training when they dared ask why he needed the chain so much. Jou nearly choked on his suppressed giggles when Seth glared at them as Set the God himself, and announced 'I like wearing it.' Really… that was too hilarious for Jou to actually go and return that chain… he would, after the march probably… or next day. But for now, glaring and pissed-off Seth was too much fun to pass. Especially when it was pissed-off Seth in safe distance from Jou. In fact, the mage wasn't as much of a bastard as he pretended to be, or as he was said to be. And he really knew interesting stuff Jou liked listening to, when they were taking a break in those translations. But Jou really thought the mage needed to learn how to take a break sometimes. He didn't always need to be so high and mighty… maybe this thing with the chain would teach him that perfect straight-laced manners weren't always so necessary.

The chariot with Yuugi and several servants along with Atem passed unnoticed, almost at the end of the march. Jou breathed out in relief: it seemed that it went the good way this time…

Suddenly, the air stilled and Jou could hear someone scream and something crackling in the air. Then there were more screams and shuffling in the procession itself and Jou's blood went cold immediately. He tore through the crowd, ignoring protests when he elbowed his way through. His heart was beating fast as he imagined Yuugi in a puddle of blood, but when he managed his way to the front, he saw that it was not Yuugi or the Prince.

It was Seth, lying on the dusty road, pale and still, and Jou's heart skipped a beat at that sight. The mighty and powerful court mage on the ground like that was somehow unnatural, unreal, like a bad dream or an illusion-gone-wrong.

Something vibrated against his hip and Jou's fingers unconsciously slipped into his pocket. When they collided with gold, Jou's eyes widened. He gripped the chain and immediately could feel something drawing his eyes to his side, through the crowd. A man stood not that far from Jou, muttering something, his eyes fixated on Seth. Jou couldn't even see anyone else as he ruthlessly made his way to the man and drew back his hand, punching him hard in the face. He could hear the bones cracking and feel his finger or two go the wrong way, but he didn't care. The man yowled, blood gushing from his broken nose down his chin and dripping to his chest. The guards came immediately. Jou just barked at them that that guy was the attacker and then he was out in the street. One guard tried to stop him, but a wave of hand from 'the Prince' assured Jou free way. He wasn't sure if he would be allowed his next move, but nonetheless he stepped to Seth – he refused to think of _him_ as _Seth's body_ – and collected him in his arms. He was horribly light, and Jou could feel something far heavier in his chest when he realized that Seth was just barely breathing.

And what was worse, Seth was the main healer in the palace. No one knew what to do to make this better… especially when it came to magical injuries – Jou only realized that when they got to the palace and he set the mage down on his bed, into the soft linens. Jou's throat was tight as he watched Seth's still, pale face and prayed to Set, for the first time in his life he prayed to an Egyptian god, that he'd make his follower alright.

But neither Set the God nor Seth the mage were responding, not even when Jou took water and linens the servants brought and started cleaning Seth from the dust that was stuck to his skin. He would probably flip and yell at Jou for bringing sand and dirt to his bed, and then water too… but Jou didn't care, he wanted Seth to open his eyes and yell at him or curse him or anything, because this dead-looking Seth was more horrifying than angry Seth had ever been.

"…they probably figured Seth was the protector of me and my father," Jou heard the Prince's voice even before he and Yuugi entered. He didn't turn to them – right now, Seth was far more important than Yuugi or Atem. They were okay, and Seth was too close to crossing the borders of the Western Lands, and Jou didn't want that. He wanted Seth to open his eyes and yell or talk or scold him or pat his shoulder as he used to do when Jou didn't annoy him for the whole day and did his work without bitching… that hand on his skin had felt so nice. Jou didn't want that hand to suddenly grow cold and still, like it was now... he wanted that hand on his shoulder again, warm and alive and… he wanted to cover it with his own hand to reassure himself that Seth wasn't dead.

Jou inhaled sharply at that thought. Maybe Yuugi had been right… maybe Jou had been jealous… maybe… he really was able to like an arrogant asshole like Seth…

"Will he be alright?" Yuugi piped up, and Jou didn't have the strength to answer that, because he didn't want to lie and he didn't want to know the answer if it was a bad one.

Atem spoke instead, and his voice sounded a little too high, with a strange hysterical undertone in it.

"Who knows… maybe he won't… he's my protector and he couldn't even protect himself, damn him…"

Jou rose to his feet and his hands clenched to fists at his sides, even though the hand he had used to punch the bad guy hurt a little at that.

"It's not like he WANTED to get himself… hurt!" Jou growled and his voice shook – he nearly said 'killed', but that would bring death too close, closer than it already was, and Jou didn't dare risk that.

Atem glared back, and his eyes set on something on Jou's hip or side. Jou looked down, following the Prince's gaze… and saw the gold chain hanging from his pocket. He had been in too much of a hurry to pack it away carefully…

…and now, Atem was pointing an accusing finger at him.

"YOU! That chain… it was Seth's protection from outside magic! You're a damned Persian spy for sure! You're trying to get us all killed?!"

The Prince was yelling so loudly that half of the palace must have heard, but Jou was too busy letting his jaw fall. What… the chain was… his mind went blank. The only thing that was left was the fact that out of stupid attempt to hide his jealousy he took the only thing that protected Seth… and practically, Atem was right… he almost got Seth killed… maybe he would never wake up now… because of Jou.

"Now, Prince… calm down," Jou could hear Yuugi's soft voice as if from distance, but Atem was already hysteric, his eyes wide in terror, his pointed finger shaking like a leaf in the merciless wind.

"NO! Everyone is trying to kill me! Or people close to me! It would be fuckin' better if I just died already and everyone would be happy again!"

Jou woke up from his haze when a slap echoed through the room. With wide eyes, Jou stared at Yuugi. His eyes were fierce as he glared at the surprised Prince who was busy touching his slapped cheek.

"Never, you hear me?! Never say that again. I, for one, would be very sad if you died. And there are many people who love you. It's just that their love is a little less forceful than the murder attempts. So stop acting like an idiot. Egypt needs you. I don't want to live in freakin' Persian Egypt."

Jou thought that the Prince would take their heads off immediately… but he just sighed and cast his eyes down. Suddenly, he looked a lot older than he really was, just a tired man with too much responsibility and too few people to rely on when the weight on his shoulders grew too great.

"I'm going to rest for a while… I'll send the best healers in."

Yuugi watched the Prince leave, and then turned to Jou, with just as much fierceness in his eyes.

"Are you stupid?! Did you have to steal from him again? Didn't you hear him promise that he'd skin you if he ever found something missing again?!"

Jou touched the chain against his hip and pushed it back into his pocket, so he wouldn't need to look at Yuugi.

"It was… what we always did," he tried defending himself weakly, but he didn't really think he could put up some real defense when he himself thought himself guilty as charged. Seth had been right… he was just a fucking thief, nothing more.

Yuugi apparently thought the same, because his eyes narrowed as he hissed:

"There are more important things than gold and gems now. I know we can't help much, but at least you should stop undermining it all with your stupid pranks!"

With that, he turned and left Jou standing next to unconscious Seth, with his golden guilt in his pocket, pressed uncomfortably against his hip as a reminder of what he had done.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The doctors came and went, and they all gave Jou a weird look, but he wouldn't leave no matter how many times they tried. So they just left him there, at the unconscious mage's side, staring at him all day long and trying his best to make his guilt go away as he dabbed at Seth's dry lips with a wet towel and tried to make him swallow at least a little wine.

Every second, he wondered whether Seth would wake up or not… and if yes, then if he would ever forgive Jou his stupidity. The mage was always so uptight, so responsible… it annoyed Jou a lot, especially when he was pushed to do some work too, but on the other hand he respected Seth for being who he was and not giving a damn about what the others said about him. And it wasn't anything nice – in that month he had spend in the palace, Jou had barely heard someone talk nicely about Seth and even then it was mostly from some sense of duty than from real affection.

He looked at the sleeping man in the bed – without his frown and his glare, he looked peaceful, almost like a mask on a dead man's face, and it frightened Jou when he realized that he might not wake up, ever. Just… because Jou was stupid and had to steal that damned chain just to prove to himself something unimportant. Prove that he didn't care what Seth said, when… in fact, he cared. A lot more than he would like to, now he could see it. Yuugi's talk about Bakura liking Seth pissed Jou off, that was the reason – he was idiotically jealous and trying to get Seth's attention with one thing he knew would work, stealing stuff.

Jou sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. If only he could turn back time and think it over again… if only he would've actually used his head before he went and took that chain. If only it didn't bother him so much that Seth appointed a scribe for him instead of working with him, that Seth went and spent time with Yuugi instead of him. Jou knew it was stupid, even back then when he felt hurt and bitter because of that – he knew Yuugi's role was much more important than his own, that he was just someone who tagged along with the important person, as usual, that Seth couldn't care less and didn't have a slightest reason to care… that was why he wanted to make him notice. Even through anger, if there was no other option…

Jou chuckled at himself bitterly. It was like he didn't know what the hell he wanted from life. He remembered complaining about boredom when he worked with Seth... especially that day before Seth assigned a scribe for him. After Jou bitched for at least an hour about how he hated these closed workrooms, Seth took him down to the banks of Nile and they spent the day working on a small boat and Jou kept shifting and looking around and generally making the translating process impossible. Seth scowled and growled, but Jou was by now able to actually discern between the growls that meant 'mildly annoyed', and could be ignored, and the growls that meant death sentence. And these were definitely one of the former.

With a sigh, he shifted on his chair and looked on the sleeping form of the mage. He hoped Seth would wake up… so he could apologize and just tell him… whatever it was that needed to be told, and then he'd stop stealing and just live a honest life so he'd never, ever piss off Seth again. Jou knew somewhere in the back of his mind that he was close to offering gods a deal if they healed Seth, and he also knew that it meant he was desperate and Seth's situation was hopeless, according to the healers… but thinking about how he could make it better made it possible for Jou to endure, and so he did, thought and promised and helped the best he could, and didn't stop hoping.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bakura frowned at the perfectly blue sky and leaned against a tree. Now, with Seth out of picture, it should have been easier to get to Atem, but instead, Bakura felt a barrier he barely ever did. Atem walked around like a body without soul, followed by his precious page-boy… which was another thing that annoyed Bakura: how Atem used other people. After that last march, when Seth was injured, Bakura actually wanted to know what happened, so he went to Seth's rooms – and heard the Pharaoh speak like a peasant and… address his page-boy as 'Prince'. When he remembered how similar to Atem Yuugi looked back in this very garden when they started talking, before Yuugi put his wig on his head… he put two and two together.

Bakura clenched his fists. He hated it when people, common people were used for the royals' pleasure or benefit, and this was definitely the case. If he were a Prince or a Pharaoh, he wouldn't endanger others just to save his ass… his mind couldn't grasp it, he was too used to be in the front lines of every battle he had ever fought, not standing on the fringes in safety like other leaders. He wouldn't make Yuugi dress like a Prince and go out there when there was a risk of him getting killed, like Atem did – and Bakura was fairly sure Khemet wouldn't do such a thing either. Bakura hated most royals, despite his desperate attempts to get in their close circle, but Khemet was different. Khemet was the only one who actually talked to Bakura, not because he wanted to show him his place but just… because. He was the one who taught Bakura how to read and write – he was sixteen then, olive skin, ebony hair, emerald eyes and beautiful, one of the lower nobles, too far away from the throne back then, and Bakura was seven, craving attention, hungry for success and uncritically in love with the young man who taught him most of the things he now knew. It was Khemet who encouraged him after Bakura learned that he was the Pharaoh's son too – of course, he never told Khemet about that. He never told anyone. But nevertheless, Khemet helped him understand that blood wasn't everything one needed for success. It was for Khemet that Bakura fought – if anyone ever asked him, he would swear to his mother's grave that he was the most loyal servant of the Pharaoh, but in fact, his every won battle was celebrated with memory of Khemet on his mind.

Khemet was also one of the main reasons, if not the main one, why Bakura didn't really take well to the whole idea of this Greek-Egyptian friendship.

"Greece would fall one day, and they will take us down with them if we let it happen," Khemet used to say and Bakura silently agreed with him, though he had to keep up his front of loyalty before everyone else. He felt connection between them when he was with Khemet – they were both cast-offs, more skilled, more intelligent, more competent with what they could do, but they had to clear the way for the more privileged ones.

So it didn't really shock Bakura when, after Seth had been injured, Khemet frowned and slammed his hand into the table in his room.

"This has to stop," he said, and Bakura nodded, "Greece will destroy Egypt at this rate! They want to bind us to them; they plan assassinations and make it look like Persia is the enemy here, when they wish nothing less than full control of Egypt!"

His green eyes shone when he turned to Bakura.

"Help me end this. There's only one way of making this stop…"

Bakura knew what he meant. Even if the current Pharaoh died – and with his current condition, it was more a matter of 'when' than 'if' – there would still be Atem who would carry out the stupid orders of his father…

The general sighed, looking up into the sky again. He didn't really wish to become a murderer, but… if it would help Egypt… if it would help Khemet… there really was no other way.

When he knocked on the well-known door, his doubts were dispelled the moment Khemet appeared in the doorway, his soft smile warming Bakura's heart in a way no one else could. No one else saw him the way Khemet did – and for Bakura, who spent his life seeking acknowledgement, Khemet looking directly at him was exactly what he had wished for.

"I know something that might help," he offered and was immediately pulled inside the room, Khemet's eyes glowing with feverish expectations.

"Have you thought about what I said?"

"You've always had my full support," Bakura said with a small nod, and proceeded to tell Khemet what he knew. That Atem used a double… that it was his page-boy. Khemet listened, his eyes first widening, then narrowing, and his hand coming to rest on Bakura's shoulder insistently.

"I will use this well," he promised, his voice heavy with images of better future Bakura could almost already see, "for both of us."

After that, any further doubts that might have been in Bakura's mind left and only the vivid image of Khemet's face remained in there.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Yuugi wandered the halls of the palace, feeling mildly bored and much more disturbed. He had nothing to do – he had mastered his 'role' of Atem's double; Seth who had kept Yuugi occupied with his political crap was now unconscious and Jou knelt at the mage's side day and night, taking care of Seth as if he were a sick child. Yuugi understood that Jou must've felt guilty, but in his opinion he was taking it a little too far.

He slipped into Atem's rooms and looked for the Prince – he was sitting by the window just as Yuugi had left him in the evening. He wondered whether Atem had slept at all: the dark circles under his blank eyes were a sign of many sleepless nights. It looked as if life had left Atem as well, and Yuugi frowned. He hated to see the Prince so lethargic, without purpose or will to go on. He felt like kicking the mighty idiot into life again, but he didn't really know what to say, so he just stood there and waited until Atem noticed his presence.

When he was just about ready to leave, after a long moment of silence, Atem spoke up, his voice rough and dry as if he hadn't used it in days. And maybe he hadn't – Yuugi certainly hadn't heard him speak.

"I will come to this last march myself," Atem said, and Yuugi's eyes widened. Did the Prince hurt his head last time? Or was the sun during the march too much for him?!

"You can't."

"I'm the Crown Prince, I can do whatever I want," Atem growled, but under his irritation, Yuugi could hear tiredness. And he was pissed off suddenly – Princes weren't supposed to get tired of their duties, for gods' sake.

"Are you trying to kill yourself under the pretense of responsibility? Because Seth was hurt?"

Somehow that idea made Yuugi even angrier, and when Atem didn't immediately deny it, Yuugi frowned.

"It's a stupid idea. If you want to go out and get yourself killed, I'm not of any help here at all."

"Well, maybe you're not!" Atem hissed at him and Yuugi took a step back at the Prince's rash words. Not needed… right.

He stormed out before the stupid Prince could say anything more, and didn't forget to slam the door behind him loudly. After this whole thing with doubles was over, he was out of here before that idiot could say 'Upper and Lower Egypt'. Just one last march and the deal would be fulfilled – and then he'd get his gold and get his ass as far away from annoying, frustrating Princes as possible.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Bakura shuffled his feet nervously as he looked over the crowd. He was walking not far from the Pharaoh and 'Prince Atem', so he had a fairly good view of what was happening – and Khemet was nowhere to be seen. Bakura just hoped the man wouldn't do anything foolish – after that last time they spoke about the plan only a little, in hushed voices and cryptic words. And from that Bakura gathered that Khemet was going to do it himself – he couldn't trust anyone else, and Bakura would be too obvious if he missed the biggest march, the last one before Greek-Egyptian union.

So he was left riding his war chariot, decked out in gold and with insides tied into a nervous knot. He looked around again, trying to remain as inconspicuous as he could, and then he saw a flash of ebony hair and Khemet was there, right in the middle of the march, holding the page boy of 'the Prince' with a sly smirk. A knife gleamed viciously in the sunlight as it pressed against the page-boy's neck, and Bakura swallowed hard at the sight, his heart thundering in his chest. This was the moment that solved everything…

"Let him go!" Bakura heard 'the Prince' yell, the desperate undertone clear in his voice, and Khemet's smirk was as ugly as it could get:

"Oh, he's just a servant…"

"Don't hurt him!"

"Servant's not important, right?" Khemet smiled, and drew the knife away from the boy's neck. Bakura frowned – Yuugi, or 'the Prince', seemed really flustered by the image of the endangered Atem… maybe the boy just didn't know better. Bakura would talk to him after this whole deal was off and tell him it was for the best. So he'd understand why it needed to be done.

"He is!" 'the Prince' blurted out, and next thing Bakura saw was just Khemet's victorious grin and the knife flashing again before it buried deep in the 'page-boy's' side. Atem finally got what he was asking for…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jou's ears were pierced by a scream and he jerked his head up from the side of the bed where he had rested it not that long ago. He had stayed back near Seth after he had convinced the palace guards that the sick person needed to be taken care of – but now, he felt like he would be unconscious next from the shock. Seth was sitting up on the bed, his eyes dim and dead and it looked very much like his body was moving on its own will, and it made Seth run out of the chamber at terrifying speed.

Jou swallowed hard and quickly tried to think, his hands shaking, but he couldn't think of anything he could do, so he just ran after Seth, but it was no use: the mage, or that thing that was driving him, was too fast for Jou and the crowded street didn't help either. Jou ran and pushed people away and squeezed through the crowd as best he could… and too busy with that, it took him several moments to realize what felt so wrong when he got to the streets. People weren't cheering loudly, there was almost silence, that kind of buzzing, noisy silence that befell places where something bad had happened in front of many people, and Jou's throat was squeezed tight when he managed through the mass and stood right before the marching royals.

Or more like before terrified royals, because there was someone with a knife and someone who got stabbed and was bleeding from his side, blood dripped down the boy's hip and leg, and only then Jou realized it was Atem, servant-disguised Atem with wide eyes and shocked expression, as if he couldn't believe someone really attacked him.

That was when Jou spotted Seth. He ran towards the attacker and the attacked one, his eyes dull but his expression horrifying and his chest covered with blazing red symbols that seemed to radiate some weird, evil kind of magic as Seth moved fast and then the knife was no longer in Atem's side, it was in Seth's hand and it slit the attacker's throat. Someone screamed, someone from the march but Jou was too shocked to actually notice much.

The page slid into Seth's outstretched arms when the mage dropped the knife to the dusty ground, and the Prince got off his chariot and suddenly was by his injured servant's side… and with rising panic gnawing at his heart Jou realized it wasn't Atem who got stabbed. The one in royal attire was the taller one; it was Yuugi who was bleeding there into that filthy, sandy road, who was dying and Jou could not see clearly or move closer because he was paralyzed with fear and his eyes damned stung.

Then, red light glowed all around Seth from what Jou could see, and around Yuugi too, and then all that could be heard was silence and a soft thud when Seth fell to the ground. That was when Jou's feet got unblocked and he ran to them, avoiding the guards that tried to stop him. He gathered the unconscious mage in his arms and to his relief, Seth was breathing evenly… it almost felt like he was just asleep. When Jou looked up, the Prince, the real Prince, was on his knees too, and Yuugi was in his arms and tears were in his eyes and Jou felt that panic leave his chest when he saw Yuugi open his eyes and look up at Atem with a small smile. Yuugi was smiling… that meant it would all be good again… at least Jou hoped.

"I'm glad… I was of some use after all," Yuugi whispered roughly, and for some reason, that made the Prince's eyes well up with tears, but Jou was sure they were tears of relief… just like his own.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"He will make a full recovery. The spell is wearing off and his body will take over the healing process from now on," Seth said in his cool doesn't-concern-me voice, but Atem could tell that he was actually happy for Yuugi to be getting better by the day. And he wasn't the only one: when Seth turned and left, followed by Jou close at his heels, Atem sat down on the side of Yuugi's bed. These past two days have been terrible, even though Seth kept reassuring both Atem and Jou that everything would be just fine. Jou seemed to believe him, because it was hard and painful not to, but Atem still had his doubts. It was mostly guilt biting into his soul, he knew that… but right now, Yuugi's warm eyes, a little sleepy from all the medicines, made the guilt intensify tenfold.

"I'm sorry for being such a thick-headed idiot," Atem said quietly, looking down at the floor tiles because it was easier than looking right at someone who nearly died because of him. Because of his stupidity – because he wasn't careful enough. Wise enough. "It should have been me-"

Warm touch of Yuugi's hand on his own stopped him and he glanced up, meeting Yuugi's eyes. They seemed calmer than before, more compassionate – it was like that near-death experience changed the boy in some way, made him more at ease with who he was and what he was doing with his life. Or maybe Atem was just being overly-sensitive; that was a possibility too.

"It was my purpose to protect the Prince. I'm glad I could make it in the end – it was for the best like this, even if I died."

"You're more important to me than-" Atem started, growling, and felt a blush on his cheeks when he heard his own words. Yes, Yuugi was more important to him than politics and other stuff, he knew now, after nearly losing him, but that didn't mean he was allowed to admit it like this. Yuugi didn't like him like that, he never showed any inclinations-

"You know," Yuugi said quietly, clearly still straining to speak, and Atem felt bad for letting him, but he wanted to hear what he had to say too much, "when I thought I was going to die, I realized that I only had one regret: that I wouldn't be able to spend more time with you."

Atem's eyes widened in surprise and in an empty hope he was almost too afraid to hold. Could that mean…

He couldn't hold back – he felt his body moving on his own as he kneeled on the bed and leaned over Yuugi, lightly pressing their lips together in a gentle kiss. It tasted like some bitter stuff Seth was feeding the boy for healing, but it didn't matter – at that moment Atem wouldn't trade it for anything. His heart was thudding madly and he felt himself grin sheepishly after Yuugi hissed quietly and Atem drew back, not wanting to disturb his still-healing wound.

Suddenly unable to refrain from touching Yuugi at least innocently, he ran his hand through his hair which was so like his own, and smiled at the boy. When he smiled back, slowly, sleepily, Atem felt like a real ruler of the world.

"You can spend so much time with me from now on it'll annoy the hell out of you," he grinned, too moved to actually say something wise or romantic, and Yuugi chuckled a little:

"I'm not fetching wine for you anymore then."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jou had always considered himself a decent runner, but he had to give his best to catch up with Seth. He caught his arm before he realized what he was doing, and tensed up, immediately releasing the mage from his grip: but Seth didn't growl or lash out at him, he just… looked. Questioningly, as far as Jou could tell, but just looked.

"I just wanted to ask," Jou started and shuffled his feet, wondering whether it wasn't too private a thing, "what… what happened out there on that street?"

He knew it was maybe a little too late to ask too, but there simply had been no time. With Yuugi injured and the fuss the attack had created at the court, with Khemet's death and Bakura's running-away, Seth had spent these two days being at least at three places at the same time, as if he had never been sick. That was a part of what Jou wanted to know – and he was aware of the fact that it wasn't his place to raise any questions to the mage. He was just a servant, and a bitchy, noisy one at that, certainly not one of Seth's favourites if the mage's sour looks were anything to go by… but… he needed to know.

Seth just looked away to the distance, staring at the horizon from the balcony they stood on, and the setting sun borrowed that strange red glow to his figure again. Jou found himself holding his breath as it seemed a little scary and magical and ethereal, and all he could do was to raise his hand and touch Seth's shoulder, squeeze it lightly to make sure the mage wasn't just a hallucination or a ghost called up by Jou's sense of guilt.

Seth turned and looked at him at that touch, surprise in his eyes as if Jou had torn him out of a thought and smiled a little. It was rare, seeing Seth smile, not smirk or grin or sneer, and Jou remembered that day at Nile, that peace he felt and the way Seth looked when Jou turned from the river to look at the quiet mage. Seth had that serene expression now too, and when he opened his mouth, Jou knew he wasn't going to scold him for asking inappropriate questions but actually answer.

"That is my sole purpose in life, to protect the Prince. The blood oath I took forces me to protect him by all means, anytime he's in danger. When I'm unconscious, it takes over my body or breaks the magic that prevents me from saving him. That was what happened when Yuugi got stabbed."

Jou frowned a little at that, feeling like he was missing something.

"But... it wasn't the Prince. Was this... oath thingie fooled by the disguise?"

Not that it made sense. Yuugi had been in a servant's clothing when it happened...

Seth remained quiet, and Jou wondered whether this magic or whatever it was really could have been getting used to the fact that Yuugi was dressed like Atem on marches, and since Seth was unconscious, it couldn't detect the change and-

And then Jou remembered the day they came to the palace... and how Seth cut Yuugi's finger and wrote symbols over his own chest with it. Jou's eyes widened as he realized exactly what did that mean.

"But... why would you do that?" he asked quietly, "Why would you risk your life to protect a thief?"

Seth looked away into the setting sun again.

"I had to protect the double so as not to raise suspicion... at least that was what I told myself afterwards... to conceal the fact that just couldn't bear the condescending look in your eyes that day."

Jou felt like his eyes would pop out any minute now.

"Me...? I'm still just a thief too."

"You want me to protect you?" Seth asked, a tone of amusement in his voice, and for some reason, Jou could feel it wasn't such a stupid joke as Seth made it sound.

Nevertheless, he shook his head 'no'.

"You protect enough people already. I'd... I'd rather change what I am. I mean – not just a thief. So I can be someone who protects _you_ for a change. Not someone... who was nearly the cause of your death."

Seth gave him a puzzled look and Jou, his chest squeezed tight, pulled out the golden chain he had been carrying around in his pocket all that time. He just never found the right moment to return it to Seth – at least that was what he told himself to justify his unwillingness to part with it.

He reached out to place the chain around Seth's neck, but his hands were captured by Seth's and drawn away from the mage's neck. For a second, Jou feared he'd be scolded or yelled at, but Seth didn't even frown at him. Instead, he pushed Jou's hands back towards him and fastened the chain around Jou's neck.

"Then protect this for me."

"W-why? I nearly killed you-"

Seth never stopped smiling and his fingers still lingering over the chain and Jou's neck felt warm.

"Why did you sit beside my bed when I was unconscious? Was it just guilt? Because you stole this?" Seth's finger traced the gold chain down to Jou's chest and Jou felt his face heat up. It wasn't just guilt – he was afraid Seth wouldn't wake up, he couldn't leave him like that. He wanted to do everything he could so Seth would open his eyes, look at him and even bitch at him, just walk and eat and _live_, so Jou would feel warm again, like... all that time he spent in that 'damned workroom'... with Seth.

Seth just looked at him, quiet and observing, like he could see what was happening in Jou's head. The second the realization of his own feelings dawned on the thief, Seth leaned in and kissed him, his lips dry and hot and unhurried, and before he closed his eyes and let it happen, Jou felt like the crimson light of the sunset was the light of Seth's protection spreading over him.

**The End**


End file.
